Formula one a sad, gimmick-laced parody

Peter McKay

Enough is enough. Rather than being the purest, most compelling form of motor sport on the planet, formula one has became a sad, gimmick-laced parody. Last Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, far from being a showcase of all that is noble and wonderful about the sport, was won with Nico Rosberg - the Mercedes cork in the bottle - heading a modestly paced parade of drivers and cars, all on tyre conservation strategies.

Yes, it was rather special Rosberg won the glamour grand prix in the city where he has lived all his life and 30 years after poppa Keke did the victory deed. History making, blah blah, blah! Afterwards, Mark Webber could barely conceal his contempt for today's dumbed-down grand prix "racing", declaring: "in general [it was] just really driving around, saving the tyres and waiting for the chequered flag.'' Bless his heart, Webber longs for the old days of legitimate, no-holds racing. Bernie Ecclestone's contrarian view is with the aggressive wear on Pirelli's tyre compounds, drivers have to use their brains to win. So what do we want? Drivers going hard at it, or a mellow Mensa line-dance outing?

Shining silver: Germany's Nico Rosberg led a 'modestly paced parade' through the streets of Monte Carlo last Sunday. Photo: AFP

No doubt adding to conjecture Kimi Raikkonen is set to abandon Lotus to join Red Bull Racing next season is the news the team, based in Enstone, UK, has been hit with the biggest financial loss in recorded motor racing history. A report in London's Telegraph recorded Lotus' accounts showing an almost $86 million loss for 2012, a situation blamed on a big drop in sponsorship. Raikkonen is fast and reliable, having finished the last 23 consecutive races in the points. He has completed every race since returning to F1 with Lotus last year. Then there's his teammate, the fast but erratic Romain Grosjean, whose four crashes over the extended Monaco weekend certainly didn't help Lotus' depleted budget. He'll start the next race in Montreal 10 places back, a penalty for crashing into the rear of Daniel Ricciardo in Monaco. Grosjean also crashed three times in two days of practice.

Down memory lane

There was a time when Sydney dads ritually took their kids to the Sydney Showground for a Saturday dose of thrills, spills and hot chips. It may have Offenhausers, Chevy IIs and Holdens, eye-watering methanol fumes from barking exhausts, spinning rear tyres flinging damp dirt through the catch fencing over patrons who'd paid for the privilege. There were at-times deadly sport: 28 competitors were fatally hurt on that narrow dirt oval ringed by heavy boards.

Jack Brabham raced there before he went to Europe to chase the F1 world championship. John Harvey won in cage-less midgets, before moving to open wheelers, sports cars and touring cars. In the bloody 1960s, speedway racing made the back and the front pages of the tabloids and not because Kings Cross strippers were sometimes used as trophy girls. A famous streaker in 1975 raced solo around the track naked except for boots and helmet, outdistancing pursuing (laughing) police.

For 70 years, the Showground hosted world-class meetings and attracted two-, three- and four-wheeler stars from everywhere. Then in April 1996 the lights went out forever and this sacred site became Fox Studios.

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For those countless devotees with memories both fond and sad, publisher and photographer Tony Loxley has compiled a wonderful 520-page coffee-table book Ghosts in the Bull Pens - a stunning record of the gladiatorial mood and excitement splashed across 28 chapters and containing more than 1600 images. Every history-making moment - from day one, July 31, 1926, to the last race - is covered by Loxley and co-author, the respected historian, Dennis Newlyn. "There's not a day that goes by without remembering what the Sydney Showground meant to me and what it was like to be at the ground every Saturday night, especially during the golden era of the '60s," says Newlyn. Photos and memorabilia have come from unlikely sources.

Speedway fans are invited to PJ Gallagher's Hotel on the old speedway site on Sunday from 1pm to celebrate the release of the book and tell and listen to tales of racing at the legendary venue. There will be a static display of some of the racing cars and bikes that raced at the historic old Royale. And some of the big name survivors of the most brutal era in Australian motor sport will be along too. Selling at $94.95, Ghosts in the Bull Pens is available from www.fullthrottlepublishing.com.au.